The state of the economy at the street level

[TimeISmoney]

I've been expecting this the way this council wastes money.

 

[qldfrog]

I've been expecting this the way this council wastes money.

View attachment 188979

Debt of $6b but they will save $1m by not repairing footpath, the issue is more fundamental.
The Olympics for one, the trip to Paris for too many, and the actual absence of productivity.
It would be very interesting to get the number of Brisbane employees and subcontractors per inhabitant in the 1950s vs nowadays.
And we have mechanisation: road repairs, sweepers, garbage trucks as well IT/automation for the back office.
I am not Brisbane based anymore but i guess this is probably true of all councils

 

[moXJO]

As someone who has recently worked in the hospitality industry (as a second job/side hustle) I can tell you its absolute nonsense. Who told you this? And one look at Job ads on seek will confirm it.

Most restaurants and hotels pay the hospitality industry award (HIGA) which has a base rate of $26 per hour for permanent wait staff (and slightly more for cooks, etc) and $32 base rate per hour for casuals. Around the same for stewards, hosts, etc. Line cooks will be paid slighlty more. Most chefs will be on salary and do a decent amount of unpaid overtime.

Sure there are some accomplished career waiters with 5 - 15 years experience working full time at famous fine dining restaurants earning a $35 - $40 per hour base rate but that would be less than 5% of wait staff in the industry.

The typical hourly rate for a Chef probably works out to something around $35 average rate once you factor in the unpaid overtime they do as a a salaried worker (the majority are on salary) and maybe around $40 average rate for a head chef unless you are talking about a head chef at some prestigious fine dining restaurant or 5 star hotel, etc which would be on more money.

This is the norm.

 

[moXJO]

Debt of $6b but they will save $1m by not repairing footpath, the issue is more fundamental.
The Olympics for one, the trip to Paris for too many, and the actual absence of productivity.
It would be very interesting to get the number of Brisbane employees and subcontractors per inhabitant in the 1950s vs nowadays.
And we have mechanisation: road repairs, sweepers, garbage trucks as well IT/automation for the back office.
I am not Brisbane based anymore but i guess this is probably true of all councils

This is public servants everywhere in Australia. They think it's a bottomless pit of money.

One of my sons just got into a position where they look after neglected kids. Paid $35 straight of the bat. Apparently a lot of money going in this area. But it's not looking like it's efficient spending. Extrapolate this across multiple portfolios and there's billions wasted.

 

[TimeISmoney]

Debt of $6b but they will save $1m by not repairing footpath, the issue is more fundamental.
The Olympics for one, the trip to Paris for too many, and the actual absence of productivity.
It would be very interesting to get the number of Brisbane employees and subcontractors per inhabitant in the 1950s vs nowadays.
And we have mechanisation: road repairs, sweepers, garbage trucks as well IT/automation for the back office.
I am not Brisbane based anymore but i guess this is probably true of all councils

BCC used to do everything themselves until about pre-1990's, then they started using contractors. They used to mow the footpaths and fix the roads themselves, now they have contractors who do the bare minimum work. If you ever put in a complaint against them and make it public, they'll come after you like a savage dog.

 

[JohnDe]

Another icon going, founded in 1956.

Mosaic Brands’ to close all Katies stores by January after voluntary administration

Almost 500 employees of embattled Australian fashion and apparel empire, Mosaic Brands, will lose their jobs by mid-January, as the receivers overseeing its voluntary administration and sales process will close 160 stores and kill off the once popular Katies brand.

All 80 Katies stores will be closed under the decision made by appointed receivers and managers KPMG, while 80 more stores across the Millers, Rivers and Noni B brands will also be shut.

Impacted employees and landlords will be notified as soon as possible.

The decision was made following a review of the performance of Katies as a brand, and the wider store network. The stores identified to close have been loss making resulting in the decision to close them in January.

Approximately 480 store employees will be impacted by the planned closures which are due to occur by mid-January 2025, KPMG said.

“The receivers and managers would like to thank all employees, particularly those whose tenure is coming to an end, for their commitment and support through the receivership process.”

The store closures does not impact the sale process for Mosaic Brands Group, being run by FTI Consulting in their capacity as voluntary administrators. Following submissions of non-binding indicative offers in late November, short listed parties have been undertaking due diligence on the group

In October, Mosaic appointed Vaughan Strawbridge, Kathryn Evans, Kate Warwick and David McGrath of FTI Consulting as Joint and Several Administrators of the Group as part of a voluntary administration process. Mosaic’s senior secured lender has appointed KPMG’s David Hardy, Gayle Dickerson, Ryan Eagle and Amanda Coneyworth as Receivers and Managers to work alongside the Administrators through the restructure process.

All Katies stores across Australia will shut in January following its parent company entering into voluntary administration in October. Picture: Supplied.

 

[qldfrog]

Another icon going, founded in 1956.



View attachment 189187
All Katies stores across Australia will shut in January following its parent company entering into voluntary administration in October. Picture: Supplied.

I believe their whole business was sticking to a specific generation , and see that as simply an age pyramid result.
Their clientele literally died.
Not sure we should see more than this.
I understand the model: grind it to the last drop and close when figures say so.
Rivers did the same while they had a way out imho but choose not to take it.
I hooe the mother company will hire a new crew, stock new funky shops with see thru shiny sling modern stuff, blare some music in and be the next jay jay

 

[Dona Ferentes]

people have been saying it here, there and everywhere:
....
"Over the past year, government has accounted for an extraordinary 82% of all new hiring, leaving the private sector to take just 18% of jobs. It is like we are living in a centrally planned state. Back in 2000, the public sector only accounted for 22% of existing employment. Today that share has exploded to 31%.

"A similar theme is evident in the composition of growth. Australia’s economy expanded by 0.8% over the past year. But more than 100% of that was made up by public spending. In the absence of all this public largesse, inflation and interest rates in Australia would be a lot lower....
- Christopher Joye
.

Coolabah's Christopher Joye: Australian inflation may re-accelerate in 2025

In his year-end interview, Coolabah Capital's Christopher Joye shares with us what he is looking out for in 2025.

www.livewiremarkets.com

.
where's our Milei?

 

[SirRumpole]

Over the past year, government has accounted for an extraordinary 82% of all new hiring, leaving the private sector to take just 18% of jobs. It is like we are living in a centrally planned state.

People are dying in ambulances waiting for a bed in hospital, but we shouldn't be hiring more doctors and nurses?

 

[sptrawler]

People are dying in ambulances waiting for a bed in hospital, but we shouldn't be hiring more doctors and nurses?

Or maybe they need to streamline getting them out of the ambulance, rather than having ambulance personel having to have a face to face meetings with a person in the hospital, there must be something available to facilitate that aspect as it is one of the causes the bottleneck from my experience.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Pears are $5.95 a kilo.

Disgraceful. I blame Albanese.

gg

 

[sptrawler]

Pears are $5.95 a kilo.

Disgraceful. I blame Albanese.

gg

That has been offset by the fall in the price of bananas apparently, I blame the RBA.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

That has been offset by the fall in the price of bananas apparently, I blame the RBA.

Surely something must be coming down in price, Custard? Water divining? Whores?

I don’t use any of those but they came to mind. Any experts?

gg

 

[qldfrog]

People are dying in ambulances waiting for a bed in hospital, but we shouldn't be hiring more doctors and nurses?

Definitely no!
But the existing doctor and nurse degrees should be doing med work, not white collar management task or pouring new processes
A backend office is supposed to support a frontline, not the other way out.
How many in the education, medical, policing departments etc are doing actual related job instead of the previously discussed BS jobs?
We have had an IT revolution, now AI revolution, automation all along and yet the proportion of PS vs actual productive forces is increasing.
This is an aberration and economic sabotage

 

[JohnDe]

Pears are $5.95 a kilo.

Disgraceful. I blame Albanese.

gg

My fruit and veg bill have more than doubled over the past year. It makes me realise how much my parents and grandparents saved by having their own vegetable and fruit garden, we hardly ever purchased vegetables.

My son has taken on my dad's influence and has a beautiful veggie garden sorted in his back yard with his wife's help, new fruit trees planted as well, and already saving a small fortune to put towards his mortgage.

Sadly, very few will have the advantage of being able to grow their own vegetables, not when they put 2 or 3 houses on a block, or build multi-story apartments.

Australia is going backwards.

 

[SirRumpole]

Surely something must be coming down in price, Custard? Water divining? Whores?

I don’t use any of those but they came to mind. Any experts?

gg

There is a glut of tomatoes I believe, they should be pretty cheap if you want to throw a few at some politicians.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

Pears are $5.95 a kilo.

Disgraceful. I blame Albanese.

gg

I bought 2 .. it was $3 for a pair.

yeah, I know; brace yourself

 

[JohnDe]

Today's specials.

 

[SirRumpole]

$3.49 for an avocado?

Ridiculous!

 

[Bellcose]

People are dying in ambulances waiting for a bed in hospital, but we shouldn't be hiring more doctors and nurses?

Ideally. Unfortunately, hospital budgets are not infinite - although the demand for health services is. At present, there are a number of nurses graduating from a University in Canberra but the public hospital system cannot offer them a placement due to monetary constraints.

It may be difficult to find but if interested see if you can locate the annual reports for public health services in your State.